21 January, 2011

I've had this old Italian handlebar for many years; it's the one on top. I really like it for a fast city bike and thought that VO should make something similar, the one on the bottom. It's much like our Milan bar, but with zero rise. It's actually designed from scratch, not based on the Milan, but the similarity is evident. We just ordered the first production run and hope to have them here sometime this spring.

All we're missing is a name for our new creation, which is were you come in. Whoever comes up with the name we like best gets a free VO or Grand Cru handlebar, any model you like. Please post your suggestions in the comments. (Don't forget to use a name in the comments so we can credit the right person.)

Update: Thanks for all the great name suggestions. The VO staff is considering them all and we'll pick the name today.

Update II: Congratulations to Jeremy, who submitted the winning "Postino."

Well, you're going to go nuts if everyone comments with as much detail as I'm about to, so apologies in advance. Obviously the bar is Italian in origin. When I spent long periods in Italy, the bar that virtually every bike sported was quite similar in shape, but usually made of heavy chromed steel. I do mean "every" bike, too. Ok: Italian place name, then, obviously.

Which city? Many come to mind, but Florence is clearly the artistic heart of the country, home of Dante, Michalangelo and almost all the great artists, and that fits with the VO culture. Now, in keeping with the tradition of a neighborhood, are there appropriate districts in Florence which might work for a bar? One thinks immediately of the Signoria, which is far too patriarchal in tone, or the Vecchio, name of the most famous bridge, and of the great palazzo. But, too obvious, already used in the bike world, and besides, neither of those are really an artsy or intellectual neighborhood any more.

No, the equivalent of Montmartre in Florence is the Oltrano, on the south bank of the Arno, home of the great Pitti Palace, the breathtaking Masacchio frescoes, the magnificent Piazza Michalangelo, and more importantly, where almost all of the young artist types congregate these days. It's where you want to be on a warm weekend night. Oltrano is the best name for your bar.

He is fast enough to be a professionnal racer,but not enough to compete for highest honors,>60 km/h sprints and gold medals.Faithfull "equipier" devoted mostly to utilitarian tasks,he gets to win a Tour de France stage once in a lifetime.He is:

"porteur d'eau"

and BTW as suggested by nico@l'atelier d'embellie,it would nicely fit a Faggin/Gianni Motta porteur project of mine ;-)

I know everybody is saying "espresso," but my gut reaction was "Breve," it means "brief" implying it's intended use as a hop=about handlebar. Plus, it's a coffee drink. If you made a longer version you could call it the "lungo." That or "Moka" as in the aluminum percolator, not the cake-in-a-cup.

If you're just scooting around the city and you're not all geared up, you might appreciate no hills. So perhaps the Hill-less bar. Maybe that's better for an upright bar, whatever, I'll stick with that.

Hiroshi at Jitensha Studio carries a similar bar he designed for Nitto based on a 3TTT. Considering the original "velo orange" was an Ebisu, you may want to go with Hiroshi, and leave Italy out of it entirely.

I don't know why everyone's getting worked up about the "fast" thing; the bar doesn't make the bike any faster.

So: Northern Italian town names, but perhaps not a big town - someplace with narrower streets, so a narrower handlebar to get around. Since it's a newer design (made in a different country), something that suggests the newness, but not in an obvious way. And for the trifecta, something that subtly suggests speed. We run it through the word-mixolater, and we get...

Novi Ligure, the hometown of both Il Campionissimo, Fausto Coppi, and Costante Girardengo.

I suggest "sprezzatura," meaning a sort of casual elegance, defined as "a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort." (Castiglione, via Wikipedia.)

First saw the word in one of the cycle chic websites, showing riders in Florence, I believe.

Ehem...Ehemm.... I bequeath thy name... VeloCity. Seems kind of obvious "a fast city bike... a bar with zero rise". You could go with V0City but the name doesn't flow. Or you could go with Vel-0-City and call it Vel0City which I kinda like because it names your bar exactly as you described it. But you might think its too 90's pager code or something, so I thought VeloCity was a better compromise.

Or being in Annapolis, Md. The Chesapeake Bender or just the Chesapeake. Or last but not least just call it the Annapolis Roadie or just Annapolis.

Ettore Bugatti designed elegant, beautiful and fast cars. He was Italian, but he established his company on the grounds of a French estate. He designed and rode bicycles for himself as well, and most racing Bugattis are a delightful French racing blue.

of the 3 Italian city-related names I suggested, the Vecchio, the Signoria, and the Oltrano, I still prefer Oltrano, but the catchiest sound is probably the Vecchio . . . the VO Vecchio. Also, the connotations: not only the grace of the bridge at the heart of the city, but the fact that the bridge has been the major site for goldsmiths for centuries. So maybe the Vecchio is better.mw

Velo-0-City "a fast city bike... a bar with zero rise" and its a bender. It's perfect! Velocity is a term used to describe speed. 0 for zero rise. City because its designed for City riding and bender because it is bent, twice, no four times. It's a perfect name.

How about naming it after the protagonist in Ignazio Silone's classic anti-Fascist novel _Bread and Wine_, Paola Spada? In the story the exiled anti-Fascist Pitro Spina is compelled to return to Italy, but to avoid detection, lives in a small town disguised as a priest, Don Spada.Michael Burdge

Thinking of you description of the bar reminded me of the old porteur races in Paris, which finished with the "epic" climb up rue Lepic... So why not "Lepic" as a name? French, Parisian (in keeping with the other bar names) and keeps with up the spirit of a lot of the VO original components.